Sunday, December 8, 2013

BUNDLES and some BUSINESS BACK STORY

997 words describing More Than You Might Have Wanted To Know about my current business philosophy and my BUNDLE practice. RADMACHER MONTHLY BUNDLE: The PHILOSOPHY

In 1985, I created in isolation. At my kitchen table. I produced work that was meaningful to me but I have very little connection to the people who purchased it. Then I secured a warehouse space as I began to expand my “distribution.” In isolation, I created. Then...a good friend, an artisan who had a production studio open to the public suggested I follow his example. Work. Create, and have relationship with the people who consideryour work. I did. And I did it over and over again...a gallery, three stores and a huge production company. Let me emphasize HUGE for a handmade production studio. It was so big, I became a manager of employees instead of an artist who creates. Personal loss, divorce, economy, 9/11, staffing issues: all conspired to make my enterprise smaller. Incrementally smaller. Until I handed it off and dedicated my time to writing. In isolation, again.

Almost all of my best words/work have been written when I have been face to face with an extraordinary experience or a person in need of encouragement, celebration or comfort. I missed that. My work is built on connection and relationship and my creativity and the vital flame and spark was starting to diminish because I was creating in a void. In isolation. Again.

Early this year I created a social media piece to share. Freely. As with anything I post on social media - It is a gift...to share personal (not for commercial use). But this particular piece was in high demand. People were writing asking, PLEASE -may I buy this? I had twelve of the same empty frame in my studio. I wrote: I have twelve of these to sell. I named a price and said first come, first served. They sold out in minutes. I intersected that experience with a show my husband is mad-crazy to watch: American Pickers. They “bundle.” The put an assortment of like objects together and put a price on it that reflects huge savings at a single, desirable price. I could do that.So, I did.

I’ve had many efficiency experts reach out to me and offer to help me streamline my process, install “BUY NOW” buttons and trim up the process. I’m grateful they pay attention to my ways. I’m grateful they notice my web site has errors in it and that m ordering process is kind of clunky. Because taught myself how to build a web site. And it’s clunky. But it’s my kind of clunky. I am earnest. I am eager. I am enthusiastic. No one would ever (that I can recall) describe me as sophisticated. Or streamlined. Because...I’m not. I am real, and messy, and aspire to do too much in a single day every single day because I believe that I WANT TO live as if this is all there is. And that means that my capacity for mastery falls in a very narrow field. Connection and speaking for the hearts of those who struggle to find words to convey meaning to themselves and others. That is my motivation for my own writing and it is what motivates me to write for others. I’m sticking to it.

Could my web site use more attention and some sprucing up and more of ZIP and less of Doo-DAH? You betcha. However, I model for a certain segment of creatives (and other professionals who learn from my demonstration model) that just doing it is sometimes the greatest accomplishment. I am the ambassador of “know when good enough is good enough.” And at the end of the day, I forgive and let go and get up and go at it again.

I’m more accomplished at things now than I was 30 years ago. I imagine I'll gain additional skills in the next years that I am blessed, if I am blessed, to have them. But today: what you see is what you get.

RADMACHER MONTHLY BUNDLE is personal. I know the names of people who order. I know some of their favorite colors, and the kinds of dogs they love. I KNOW things about them because I am intimately connected to them. And this is essential to my work right now. So, please know that I know I’m not making the sales figures I could be making if my web site were more professional. And if my ordering system was more in line with what is common to the marketplace. But here’s what: I’m not common. I do not do “business as usual.” And I’m pleased to be able to declare that. So those who are familiar with tried and true phrases might be reciting, “There’s the right way and there’s the hard way...” Right now, in this time in my life, even though it might look like the “hard way” it’s the right way for me. Because it is what I choose. Videos without privacy screens, photos without make up. Unvarnished narrative because this is how and where I live.

So. This is about a thousand words summarizing thousands of words of experience. If you have read this far, thank you. If you’ve wondered about the less than stellar web site or the kind of rambling emails I send, at least you know they come from ME, not a PR expert.

Thank you for loving my messy, authentic, paint-spotted work that I release into the world. AND you will not find an ORDER NOW button for my RADMACHER MONTHLY BUNDLES. You have write me - and tell me you want me to send you an invoice. Because I want you to order my work, and I want to do it in relationship to you, your life and your favorite things. I want to write your name with my hand on your order. And I want to PERSONALLY thank you for making it possible for me to earn my living doing what I love.